Zero-Trust Architecture: More Than A Buzzword In IT

Zero-Trust Architecture

Zero Trust has become an all-out buzzword in the IT world, but it bears far more critical than many know. Find out about zero trust architecture from ICS in Texas.  

A lot of significant terms have bubbled to the surface over the last year in the media concerning cybersecurity and IT. Blockchain, machine learning, and even artificial intelligence have been mentioned a great deal by some of the top technology-related media venues. However, one thing that has gotten a lot of buzz that is far more of a concern: zero trust architecture.

In 2014, Google replaced its standard firewalls with a zero-trust architecture, and many other companies have followed suit. Getting to know precisely what zero trust is and how zero trust architecture plays a role in your business is essential. Here is a look at what every business owner needs to know.

What Is Zero-Trust Architecture?

In the most general sense, zero trust architecture is a trust model that protects the critical data, applications, etcetera within a business network. However, instead of protecting the network from the outside in, the environment is designed to protect a network from threats within the network itself, and that is incoming from external connections. The National Institute of Standards and Technology gives perhaps the best definition:

“Zero trust refers to an evolving set of network security paradigms that narrows defenses from wide network perimeters to individuals or small groups of resources.”

To establish what needs to be protected, you pinpoint a surface that must be protected. Your surface is all of the network’s critical attributes that need to be protected. By knowing this surface, you can also quickly determine how the traffic moves around this surface. For example, the people who are using the applications to access data points from multiple devices, either on or off-site. A zero trust architecture is built around this traffic and all of those devices using things like next-generation firewalls or segmentation gateways.

How Is Zero Trust Established?

The necessary steps to establishing a zero-trust architecture look something like:

• The surface of the network is outlined or determined
• The transaction flows between devices are mapped out in a detailed way
• Zero trust architecture is built around the transaction map
• A zero-trust policy is created that must always be followed
• The zero trust architecture is consistently maintained and monitored by business technology service providers

This five-step process is most often used to deploy and establish the zero trust architecture, and it is a lot more simplistic than what it is expected. You can’t go out and buy zero trust software products to create the environment; the environment is created, and the existing or newly implemented products are worked in.

Why Is Zero Trust Important in Business?

Zero trust is important to businesses and organizations because it allows for traceability and visibility across the surface of the network. It becomes easier to enforce and control access, prevent problems with data loss, and more. No matter what device is being used to access the surface or from where the access is taking place, all processes are rightly protected. All of this allows you to stop threats from all traffic within the network regardless of where it is coming from.

Learn More About Zero Trust Architecture for Your Operation

Overall, zero trust is a strategy—a preventive measure for your business network that evolves your current security plans. If you lack understanding about zero trust architecture or why it is crucial, or if you need help to implement zero trust in your digital environment, a business technology service can help. ICS offers IT support and business IT services across the state of Texas. Contact us to find out more about our services and how we can help keep your business or organization secure.